1. Field
Aspects herein relate to expandable stent valve devices for tissue implantation and methods of use.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Natural heart valves are identified as the aortic, mitral, tricuspid and pulmonary valves.
The mitral valve is located between the left atrium and the left ventricle, and is commonly referred to as a bicuspid valve, having two cusps for allowing oxygenated blood to flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle. The tricuspid valve is located between the right atrium and the right ventricle, and has three cusps for allowing deoxygenated blood to flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle.
Aortic and pulmonary valves, commonly referred to as semilunar valves, are located at the base of the aorta and the pulmonary artery, respectively. Each semilunar valve has three cusps and permits blood to flow from the respective ventricular outflow tract into the appropriate artery, while preventing backflow of blood from the artery into the ventricle. The aortic valve lies between the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) and the aorta, and the pulmonary valve lies between the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and the pulmonary artery.
Stenosis and regurgitation of the heart valves can cause chronic pressure within various chambers of the heart and volume loads leading to short term and long term morbidity, as well as mortality. A therapeutic option for patients that suffer from eventual heart failure is valve replacement. However, replacing a natural valve with a bioprosthesis has often led to progressive valve deterioration, despite administration of anticoagulation therapy.
Transcatheter valve replacement for adults is a strategy for mitigating problems associated with multiple surgical procedures and/or palliative medical care. Valve implants are designed to replace the leaflet structure that extends from a valve circumference to a radial center point of the valve, with each leaflet contacting or slightly overlapping the other adjacent leaflet(s). However, using current methods, transcatheter valve replacement is largely impossible for smaller patients, such as children.